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The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed on Wednesday (local time) the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004, which calls for the U.S. government to be actively involved in the North Korean human rights issue and protect North Korean defectors.
The bill specifically enumerates for the U.S. to take certain steps like กใ including the North Korean human rights issue as a major topic of discussion with Northeast Asian states; กใ providing generous financial support for North Korean human rights groups; กใ expansion of radio service to North Korea; กใ strengthening inspections of the distribution of humanitarian assistance; กใ recognizing defectors as refugees and establishing international refugee camps; and กใ permitting defectors to apply for asylum in the United States.
The bill calls for yearly totals of US$24 million -- including US$2 million for activities improving human rights in North Korea, US$2 million to promoting freedom of information in North Korea and US$20 million to refugee assistance -- to be given in aid from the 2005 fiscal year.
The bill takes the from of an advisory, and is not as strong as one that would compel the U.S. administration to involve itself in the North Korean human rights issue. If the bill passes through the Senate and officially become law, however, it is expected to have greatly influence not only U.S. North Korea policy, but also how each country approaches the North Korean human rights issue and the status of refugees.
The bill, introduced in November by Rep. Jim Leach, chairman of the House Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, had passed through the House International Relations Committee but floundered in the Judiciary Committee. On July 16, it was submitted to the House. The bill was presented before the House at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday (local time) and passed unanimously in only 13 minutes.
In accordance with the bill's passing by the House, it will soon be submitted to the Senate for deliberation. If the Senate passes it, it would become the first ever law on the North Korean human rights issue. Another bill that includes tough measures seeking the collapse of North Korea -- the North Korea Freedom Act -- has also been handed to the Senate, but deliberations have yet to begin. It's unclear whether the Senate would deliberate on these two bills together or separately.
As soon as the bill was passed, Rep. Leach stressed in a statement that the North Korea Human Rights Act was brought about by the sincere desire for progress in human rights, refugee protection and transparency in humanitarian assistance. He denied that the law was a tactic concealing hidden strategies seeking the collapse of the North Korean regime.
North Korean human rights groups in Washington welcomed the passing of the bill.
Suzanne Scholte of the Defense Forum, which has worked for North Korean human rights, said Wednesday was a great day for the North Korean people, and called the U.S. House of representatives a "true citizen's assembly" for reflecting American concerns about the pain suffered by "brothers and sisters" under the "barbaric" Kim Jong-il regime in North Korea.
Nam Jae-jung of the AEGIS Foundation, a North Korean defector protection group, said that if one reflects upon North Korean human rights and the dire situation faced by defectors, the bill is insufficient, but since it represents a start to approaching the North Korean human rights issue through legislation, it was a historic first step.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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